Alternate New Moon Storyline (Part 1)
by libertyandjusticeforall
Summary: Jacob brings Bella straight home from the beach (rather than his house) after having saved her from drowning. He goes to see how Harry Clearwater and the others are doing at the hospital, telling her he'll be back soon, and that someone from the pack is close by guarding the house. She falls asleep - when she wakes up, she's got a bad fever and a couple of unexpected visitors.


As I walked through the front door, I turned around just in time to see Jacob pull away from the house. He looked over his shoulder one last time to make sure I had made it safely inside, then waved and drove away. When he disappeared from my line of sight, I slowly closed the door, turned the lock, and lay my head against the aging wood.

My eyes focused on the floor, though they saw nothing in particular, took in no details. The events of the day had left me drained, distracted ─ I was moving as though I was in a trance. Time seemed to be ticking by more slowly now that I had a few moments to be alone with my thoughts ─ now that Jacob was gone.

I don't know how long I stood there leaning against the door, but eventually I realized my teeth were chattering hard enough to chip, and moved to go change out of my damp clothes. I took each step slowly, aware of the fact that my senses were dulled but unable to do much about it, and made my way up the stairs.

When I got to my room, it was all I could do to roll off my wet clothes and slip into a pair of old sweats before collapsing onto the bed. The warmth of the covers was an immediate relief. It reached out like a pair of arms to gently wrap around me and coax me toward sleep.

The darkness should have made me anxious, especially since this was the first time I'd been completely alone since Victoria had returned. But Jake's promise that someone from the pack was watching the house put me at ease. I pulled the faded quilt up over my shoulders as my battle with consciousness came to an end.

The last thought that crossed my mind before the darkness claimed me was an image of him, my terrifyingly beautiful hallucination, watching with horror-struck, ocher eyes as I drowned beneath the crashing waves.

Then, nothing.

I don't know how long I slept before I was pulled out of my death-like slumber. Obviously it had been awhile, judging from the way every muscle in my body protested when I tried to move. My arms and legs felt stiff and heavy, like lead. My eyelids were just as heavy ─ they would not open ─ and I was vaguely aware of a scorching heat hovering just beneath the surface of my skin.

Still in that state between dream and reality, I listened as intently as I could for whatever sound had woken me. Sure enough, after a few moments of silence I heard it ─ the undercurrent of two voices. It was like listening from underwater, but I could make them out. One was smooth, almost feline. The other was daintier, like the tinkling of bells. Both were tinged with the ache of familiarity, but before hope had the chance to rip open the hole in my chest, I rejected the memories and decided I must still be dreaming.

Meanwhile, my body was making it painfully clear that it was in distress. My head was throbbing as though someone had spent the entire time I'd been asleep pounding at it with a hammer. My throat was raw, my breathing rapid, and - I realized last - my heart was racing at an uncomfortable rate.

Frantic, I scrambled to figure out what could possibly be wrong with me. In my semi-delusional state, it took me a few moments to realize that my near-drowning experience in frigid waters probably had something (if not everything) to do with it. I let out a groan (which ended up sounding more like a raspy sigh), and tried once more to open my eyes.

At that moment, something cold touched my forehead with the slightest pressure. Against the fire raging beneath my skin, it was enough to shock me out of the last dregs of unconsciousness. I sucked in a breath as my eyelids flew open, then immediately shut again... but not before I caught a glimpse of Edward looking down at me with concern in his eyes.

I _must_ be dreaming (or else be in pretty bad shape), if he was here.

Determined not to let the illusion go to waste, I forced my eyelids to reopen. Two onyx-black eyes were gazing intently into mine, the dark shadows beneath them more pronounced than any I'd seen in my previous hallucinations.

He breathed a sigh of relief as I came to. "Bella..." His voice sounded so clear, so real, so perfect. My other hallucinations had not done it justice. "Isabella, can you hear me?"

I stared. This Edward was infinitely more real than the others ─ more vividly present, to be sure. He was perched on the edge of my bed, leaning closely enough that I could feel the cold radiating off his skin, smell his sweet, delicious scent. It'd been so long since I'd last caught a whiff of it; I'd almost forgotten it completely.

"Bella?" he asked again, his voice a bit more frantic this time.

I nodded slightly, wincing as a sharp pain shot through my temple, but still entirely distracted by the task of taking him in.

At my response, his expression lost some of its intensity; he turned away from me to address another presence in the room.

"Alice, go and get a me cool cloth, would you?"

The sound of her name jerked me out of my stupor. Until that moment, I had completely forgotten about the other voice. I watched as she (or rather, my memory of her ─ I was still trying hard not to let myself hope) passed by the foot of my bed. With an apologetic smile and the smallest of waves, she whisked out of the room, the door breezing shut behind her.

I wondered how many more hallucinations my mind would conjure up before I completely lost touch with reality (if I hadn't already).

When I looked back, Edward was scrutinizing my expression, his hand still hovering near my face. Slowly, as though not to startle me, his fingers brushed upward along my cheekbone, as if to brush away a stray hair. I closed my eyes, reveling in the moment. His touch was like electricity, sparking a flame in my long-dormant heart... and I knew then that I would never be able to cope without him again. The realization brought a lump to my throat; my eyes welled up with hot tears.

Instantly, his hand was in mine. Fire and ice. "What is it, Bella? What hurts?"

I sighed shakily, contemplating my answer. If it were really Edward, I wouldn't want him to know how much pain I was in. But since this Edward was a figment of my imagination, what did it matter? "Everything," My throat was so dry the words came out like a whisper. I swallowed and tried again with a humorless chuckle. "I feel like I've been hit by a truck."

Instantly his expression was replaced with one of undisguised anguish, and I regretted my answer. Even as a hallucination, I hated to see him in pain. After a moment, he opened his mouth to speak, but something stopped him. It was Alice ─ she was back, holding a cloth and a glass of ice water in one hand, and two pills in the other. Edward's brow went smooth.

"Good thought, Alice," he murmured as she crossed the room. She handed him the Tylenol, and my eyes suddenly felt heavy again. Edward saw me drifting.

"Bella," (I looked at him.) "have you already taken any medicine?" I shook my head infinitesimally, fading fast. His voice persisted. "I need you to sit up and swallow these before you go back to sleep." Without warning, I felt myself being lifted from my pillow, a cold arm wrapped around me. His proximity jerked me awake once again; this was, by far, the realest and most convincing hallucination of him I'd had yet.

He put the pills in my mouth and set the glass to my lips. Then his voice was in my ear, softly ordering me to swallow. His breath sent a chill down my spine that was different from the fever chills - I most definitely would _not_ survive when he left.

"I _know_, Alice..." he murmured. He set the glass on the nightstand and tried to lay me back down.

"N-no!" I rasped, clinging to his shirt with strength that surprised me. I decided then and there that, since I was dying anyway, he would have to kill me if he wanted to leave.

"Don't worry, love," he assured me soothingly, "I'm not going anywhere." Still, I tightened my grip and leaned my head against his chest. I wasn't taking any chances.

Alice sighed. "Edward..."

"_No_, Alice." He wearily opposed whatever thought had crossed her mind and took the washcloth from her, gently pressing it against my forehead, my neck. If I died in that moment, it would have been happily.

"We don't have a choice. They're going to be back any second." I tried to follow their one-sided conversation, while simultaneously fighting unconsciousness. "If we're going to protect her, we have to get her out of here, and it has to be _now_."

Were they talking about taking me with them? If every part of my body hadn't been screaming with pain, I would've thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

"I want to go," I tried to say. My voice was so weak, I was afraid they hadn't heard me.

"What was that, Bella?" Edward asked, still cooling my cheek with the cloth.

"Please..." At this point, I would beg if I had to. I couldn't let them leave me behind. "Take me with you."

Edward scrutinized my expression, his brow furrowed. I silently pleaded with him, unwilling to let go whether he conceded or not. But something in my face must've made up his mind. He looked at Alice and sighed. "Go start the car."

Alice nodded and disappeared from the room, this time leaving the door wide open. All at once, I felt everything around me rush to the floor as Edward stood with me in his arms. He wrapped me in the quilt effortlessly and walked toward the door.

"Are you sure this is what you want, Bella?" he asked quietly. I was so far gone, I could only nod. I closed my eyes as he took the stairs in what felt like one step.

A gust of wind hit us as he opened the front door. I shivered as he wrapped me tighter in the quilt and hurried down the porch steps. In the few seconds it took him to cross the front yard, I'd lost the battle with keeping my eyes open. I heard the car door open as if from a distance, and felt my fingers slip from his shirt. Just before I went under, I was aware of him sliding in beside me and wrapping me in his stone arms while murmuring something to Alice.


End file.
